Join us on a literary world trip!
Add this book to bookshelf
Grey
Write a new comment Default profile 50px
Grey
Subscribe to read the full book or read the first pages for free!
I want to read the book!
All characters reduced
The Cigar Roller - A Novel - cover

The Cigar Roller - A Novel

Pablo Medina

Publisher: Grove Press

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Summary

The celebrated Cuban American poet and novelist offers “a fine portrait of a hedonist and a cad” set in “the Cuban, expatriate community in Florida” (The New York Times).   Pablo Medina’s The Cigar Roller recounts the life of Cuban master cigar roller Amadeo Terra. A proud and capricious man, tobacco has been the center of his life, the source of his passion. Though he committed many sins in his time, he was always forgiven due to his considerable talents with the leaves. An imperious patriarch of enormous appetites, Amadeo now lies in a Florida hospital after suffering a stroke. And only now does he finally look back at his previously unexamined life.   One day, his nurse feeds him mango from a baby-food jar—a change from the tasteless mush he frequently rejects—and the taste brings memories of his life in Havana flooding back to him. He recalls his turbulent, passionate relationship with his wife Julia, his numerous romantic transgressions, the three sons he’s kept at a distance, the political strife that forced his family to relocate from Cuba to Florida, and finally the tragedy that he’s kept locked away all these years.  The Cigar Roller is “an evocative snapshot of an era gone up in smoke,” and a portrait of a once robust man who, at the end of his imperfect life, clamors for a quotient of dignity and grace as he comes to terms with his regrets (Detroit Free Press).
Available since: 12/01/2007.
Print length: 192 pages.

Other books that might interest you

  • The First Murder - cover

    The First Murder

    Carol Goodman Kaufman

    • 1
    • 3
    • 0 
    The ME ruled her death an accident. He was dead wrong.
 
When Mary Jane Bennett is found dead in her bed— alone, strangled by her own scarf, and with every door in the house locked — the medical examiner rules her death accidental, the result of a sex game gone horribly awry. State police decline to investigate further, but Queensbridge Police Chief Caleb Crane doesn't buy for a minute that his good friend died this way, so he undertakes his own investigation. Facing town councilors afraid of bad publicity, an angry medical examiner, and his own personal demons, he labors to solve what he believes is the first-ever murder in his pastoral Berkshire Hills village. Complicating things: the list of suspects includes some of the people to whom he is closest — including his own wife.
 
“. . . [a] smartly-paced debut novel . . .”—Gerald Elias, author of the Daniel Jacobus mystery series
 
“. . . one of my favorite mystery reads this year . . . With a talent reminiscent of Louise Penny, Kaufman creates a small town ambience of alliances and hidden resentments among characters whose humanity draws you in while raising your suspicions. The First Murder is an engaging and intriguing journey to an exciting conclusion.”—Sharon Healy-Yang, author of the Jessica Minton Mystery Series
 
“. . . [a] deftly constructed debut novel [that] kept me guessing until the very end.”—Leslie Wheeler, award-winning author of the Berkshire Hilltown Mysteries
    Show book
  • Lone Wolf - cover

    Lone Wolf

    Michael Newton

    • 0
    • 1
    • 0 
    A werewolf contends with love and hunger while fighting for the Confederacy during the Civil War in this romantic fantasy.   Graham is on the run. Running from a civil war that he was forced into, from the beast that lies hidden within him, and from the curse that keeps him from leading a normal life.   When Graham meets Eliza, a mere human, he falls deeply in love. But could she possibly love him once she discovers his ability to transform into the beast? Can Graham tame the beast inside him and live a normal life, or will his secrets tear apart the growing love between he and Eliza?
    Show book
  • The Portrait of a Lady - cover

    The Portrait of a Lady

    Henry James

    • 0
    • 1
    • 0 
    Henry James’s beloved novel about a young woman’s search for freedom in a world that seeks to tie her to convention In the wake of her father’s death, young Isabel Archer decides to travel to England to visit her aunt, leaving behind the life set out for her in America and spurning the romantic overtures of her Bostonian suitor. At her aunt’s country estate, Isabel is determined to plot a new course unburdened by routine. But, prodded by convention at every turn, Isabel makes a decision that not only undermines her longing for independence, but may seal her fate forever. Among one of Henry James’s most timeless works, The Portrait of a Lady is a rich and nuanced depiction of human psychology and the tension between the pull of social norms and the desire for autonomy. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.
    Show book
  • The Arabian Mistress and The Contaxis Baby - cover

    The Arabian Mistress and The...

    Lynne Graham

    • 0
    • 1
    • 0 
    The Arabian Mistress  Faye Dawson dreaded the idea of begging for Prince Tariq Shazad ibn Zachir's mercy. A year had passed since she'd last seen the man…on their wedding day! But Faye's brother has been imprisoned in her estranged husband's homeland and only Tariq could grant his release. Though Faye didn't expect her meeting with the sheikh to be easy, Tariq's ultimatum took her breath away—become his mistress and her brother would have his freedom!  The Contaxis Baby  Socialite Lizzie Denton has been wrongly labeled a heartbreaker after a depressed young man dies in a horrific car crash. Though Lizzie would like to dispel the rumors, she made a promise not to tell anyone the truth. Greek tycoon Sebasten Contaxis is devastated by his half brother's death and wants to punish the woman responsible. But when he discovers that the stunning beauty he can't keep his hands off is the same woman he's been seeking, Sebasten alters his scheme. After all, one broken heart deserves another, right?
    Show book
  • Grey Dog - cover

    Grey Dog

    Elliott Gish

    • 0
    • 1
    • 0 
    “Gish’s prose is as sharp as a scalpel.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review
		 
“Grey Dog is a bewitching tale of the horrors of spinsterhood in the early 1900s, with madness and magic threaded through every sentence.” — Heather O’Neill, author of When We Lost Our Heads and Lullabies for Little Criminals
		 
A subversive literary horror novel that disrupts the tropes of women’s historical fiction with delusions, wild beasts, and the uncontainable power of female rage
		 
The year is 1901, and Ada Byrd — spinster, schoolmarm, amateur naturalist — accepts a teaching post in isolated Lowry Bridge, grateful for the chance to re-establish herself where no one knows her secrets. She develops friendships with her neighbors, explores the woods with her students, and begins to see a future in this tiny farming community. Her past — riddled with grief and shame — has never seemed so far away.
		 
But then, Ada begins to witness strange and grisly phenomena: a swarm of dying crickets, a self-mutilating rabbit, a malformed faun. She soon believes that something old and beastly — which she calls Grey Dog — is behind these visceral offerings, which both beckon and repel her. As her confusion deepens, her grip on what is real, what is delusion, and what is traumatic memory loosens, and Ada takes on the wildness of the woods, behaving erratically and pushing her newfound friends away. In the end, she is left with one question: What is the real horror? The Grey Dog, the uncontainable power of female rage, or Ada herself?
    Show book
  • Edge of Extinction - cover

    Edge of Extinction

    Robert J. Szmidt

    • 0
    • 7
    • 0 
    When the ruthless aliens attack the outer reaches of the Federation, Humankind is forced to retreat haphazardly from dozens of conquered systems. The only chance to delay the advance of the enemy is to create hundreds of fake colonies. If that doesn’t work, the Fleet will be forced to face the ma’lahn in a series of open battles, which can lead to its annihilation. Politicians, however, do not care about the consequences. Their goal is to preserve power, even at the cost of billions of lives. The headquarters of the third metasector must meet the requirements of the Council on the one hand, and prevent the destruction of the only force that is able to defend Humankind on the other. But this war has another—human and personal—dimension: Major Darski must fight to save the colonists that he left on Ulietta…. Edge of Extinction is book three in The Fields of Long-Forgotten Battles series.
    Show book